GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The NCAA Division II top (women) and sixth-ranked (men) Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams will host NCAA Division I opponent Wyoming in a Saturday afternoon dual meet inside the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
Action will begin at 1 p.m. and the swimming and diving events will be contested concurrently in the main competition pool and diving well.  A full event schedule can be seen below.
 
Separate Free live streams for swimming and diving events with a static camera can be seen at www.cmumavericks.com/tv.
 
Live results can be seen with a subscription to MeetMobile or viewed for free here.
 
A full meet recap will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com on Saturday evening.
 
Meet Format
 
Saturday's dual will feature 16 events for each gender, including 14 different events as well as 6-dive competitions for both 1 and 3-meter diving.  Several CMU divers will also go on to contest five XX dives in order to receive an 11-dive exhibition score.
 
Points in each individual event will be awarded on a 9-4-3-2-1 basis in the individual events and on a 11-4-2 scoring structure for the relay events.  Teams are limited to three scorers in each individual event and to two scoring relays but can enter as many individuals and relays as they wish.
 
Individual swimmers are allowed to score in four events each day and are further limited to three individual events.
 
The full swimming event schedule can be seen below.
 
200 Medley Relay
1000 Free
200 Free
100 Back
100 Breast
200 Fly
50 Free
15 minute break
100 Free
200 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
100 Fly
10 minute break
200 Individual Medley
400 Free Relay
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks opened their season hosting a pair of Division I and Big 12 Conference Foes in BYU and Utah as well as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival CSU Pueblo during the Intermountain Shootout on Oct. 4 and 5.  Each day of the weekend was scored as a separate meet in a multiple-dual format.
 
The CMU women were able to defeat Utah for the first time in program history on the first day of the meet and swept both duals against CSU Pueblo.
 
On the first day, the Maverick women won two events and set five NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times.  The Maverick men also won two events.
 
On Saturday, Oct. 5, Max Ayres won the 50-yard breaststroke while Olivia Hansson set her third NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the seasons while divers Jenna Hurley and Ryan Campbell set 6-dive NCAA qualifying scores.
 
In the polls
 
Last Friday (Oct. 18), the Maverick women were selected first in the initial CSCAA NCAA Division II Top 25 Dual Meet Poll of the 2024-25 season.  The CMU men were slotted sixth.
 
The monthly polls are conducted by 11-member committees of CSCAA member coaches.  The committees evaluate and ranks the nation's top 25 dual meet teams based on several factors. These include head-to-head dual meet results, performances since the last rankings, season-long achievements, dual meet records, roster changes (such as injuries), and data from the SwimCloud Simulator. It's important to note that the poll is not intended to predict top finishers in a championship meet format.
 
Top of the Group
 
Earlier last week, both Maverick squads were picked first in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Preseason Coaches' Polls.  The Mavericks will be gunning for their seventh straight RMAC title sweep when they host the RMAC Championships in February.
 
CMU's men were a unanimous selection at the top of their poll, claiming all five possible first place votes to top the poll with 25 points.
 
CMU's women received seven first place votes from the eight they were eligible to receive and topped their poll with 63 points.
 
Olympian to make his Maverick debut
 
Maverick freshman Harry Stacey, a 2024 Paris Olympian, will make his collegiate and Maverick debut this Saturday.  Stacey, the first and only CMU athlete to ever compete in the Olympics, represented Ghana in Pars in July, placing 51^st in the 100-meter freestyle.
 
He was also on international duty during the earlier Intermountain Shootout, thus delaying his official Maverick debut.  Stacey fared quite well while gone, claiming six gold and eight individual medals during the African Aquatic Zone 2 Championships, which nation hosted in the capital city of Accra earlier this month.
 
He was also named as the Best Male Swimmer and Beast Male Performer at the 3-day meet, which included competition at the junior and senior levels.  Eighteen West African nations were represented at the meet.
 
He, women's standout Olivia Hansson and Maverick Head Coach Mickey Wender were featured in this week's Media Scrum, which can be viewed on the Mavs' YouTube channel.

Awards Sweep
 
The Mavericks swept the RMAC's Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards on Oct. 9 after their Intermountain Shootout performances.  Junior Olivia Hansson and senior Andrew Scoggin won the Swimmer of the Week awards for the first time in their careers while Jenna Hurley and Jax Juarros claimed the Diver of the Week awards.  The sophomores have now won those awards a combined seven times.
 
NCAA Marks
 
The Maverick women combined to post five NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times during the Intermountain Shootout.  Olivia Hansson picked up three of those and sits second on the national top times list as of Thursday morning in the 1000 Free (10:14.49), sixth in the 500 Free (5:01.99) and eighth in the 200 Free (1:52.13). 
 
Meanwhile, Agata Naskret, leads the national list in the 100 Back with her time of 55.23 while the CMU women lead the country in the 400 Medley Relay with a national qualifying time of 3:44.74.
 
The Maverick men also lead Division II in the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:16.37.
 
One step done
 
Three Maverick divers in women's sophomore Jenna Hurley, men's sophomore Jax Juarros, and 2024 national junior college champion Ryan Campbell set the first of two needed NCAA Division II Pre-Championship diving qualifying marks during the Intermountain Shootout.  As was the case in 2023-24, divers must now set a 6-dive score and an 11-dive score at two different meets in order to earn a trip to the "Black Tuesday" Pre-Championship qualification meet on Mar. 11, which sets the field for the official NCAA Division II Championships which begin that evening.
 
Hurley set her 11-dive score of 404.78 points on the 1-meter board to take second place while easily going over the standard of 390.00 points.
Campbell, a transfer from Monroe Community College in New York, set a 3-meter score of 476.25 points to over the national qualifying standard of 460 points.
 
Juarros had an 11-dive score of 487.73 points on the 1-meter during an exhibition event at the Intermountain Shootout.
 
About the Cowboys/Cowgirls
 
Wyoming also opened the season on Oct. 4 and 5, competing at the Air Force Front Range Invite. 
 
The Cowgirl women won 11 of 20 events throughout the meet, taking second behind the host Falcons in the final team scoring of the 5-team meet, which also featured Colorado State, Denver and Northern Colorado.  The Cowboys were third out of three teams (Air Force & Denver) with 918 ½ points and won seven events.
 
The Wyoming women then also went on to post a 186-112 dual win over New Mexico last Saturday in Laramie.  Tara Joyce won  events, taking victory in the 50 and 500 freestyle while leading off the Cowgirls' winning 200 free relay team.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks and Cowboys/Cowgirls will meet in a dual for the fourth straight season on Saturday.  That rivalry filled with mutual respect, has been part of the Mavs' success in recent years as CMU Coach Mickey Wender has said that the competition with Division I Wyoming has helped battle test his Maverick squads, which have gone on to high NCAA Division II Championship finishes in each of the past three years.
 
He spoke about that respect in this week's Media Scrum.
 
CMU's women are 0-5 against the Cowgirls but lost by just 12 points in the only other home dual, back on Oct. 22, 2022.   Wyoming claimed a 173-127 win over CMU last November in Laramie.
 
The CMU men will also be looking to claim a first dual meet win over the Cowboys after dropping a 159-141 decision last fall in Laramie after dropping a 154 ½-143 ½, 11-point decision at home in 2022.
 
The Mavericks were able to defeat Wyoming in an invitational style scoring meet last fall, winning on both the men's and women's sides at the TYR Invitational last November.  The Cowboys and Cowgirls are also slated to compete in this year's TYR Invitational next month.
 
A look back to 2023-24
 
The Mavericks continued to climb the national ladder, recording their best national championship performances in March.
 
The Maverick women combined to win seven events, including three relays, at the NCAA Division II National Championships and took a program-best second place in the final standings at the national meet.  The Maverick men matched their best ever effort with a fifth place finish.  They also set a new program record for national championship team points with 279 and received four individual national championship performances from Ben Sampson.
 
At the conference level, the Mavericks swept the RMAC team titles for the sixth consecutive year while dominating the meet.  The Mavs won 30 of the 42 events throughout the meet, taking all ten relays and all four diving events.
 
Award-Winners
 
Fittingly, the Mavericks brough in quite a haul of post-season awards at both the national and conference level last year.
 
Mickey Wender was named as the CSCAA (College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America)'s NCAA Division II Women's Swimming Coach of the Year while Ben Sampson was named as the National Men's Swimmer of the Year for the consecutive year after winning all four of his individual events, two with national record times.
 
Sampson was also named as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Year for the third consecutive year while diving teammate Isaiah Cheeks claimed the conference's men's diver of the year award for the third straight season as well.
 
Agata Naskret, who won a CMU all-sports record five national titles in the same year, was named as the RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Year while Jenna Hurley claimed the RMAC Women's Diver of the Year award.
 
Jameson McEnaney was also tabbed as the RMAC Men's Freshman of the Year while Wender claimed RMAC Women's Coach of the Year honors as well.
 
Record Setting Relays
 
The Mavericks re-wrote much of their record book in 2023-24, setting new school records in all ten relay events at least once during the year.  Six of the ten current records were set during the NCAA Division II National Championships, where the Mavs won their first three relay titles in program history, taking the 400 Medley, 200 Free and 400 Free Relay titles on the women's side.
 
National Champions
 
The Mavericks swam to 11 national championships in 2023-24 after winning three events in the previous two years, their first swimming national titles.  The Maverick men have also won seven national diving event crowns since 2018.
 
The Mavericks will return one of their three individual national champions from 2024 in Agata Naskret, who won both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke titles, doing so with school-record times.
 
Naskret was also a member of all three of the aforementioned championship winning relay teams, which all set school-records as well.
 
In total, the Mavericks return ten of the combined 12 legs from those relay teams this year.  Ada Qunell was also a member of all three winning relays while Elli Williams swam on the 200 and 400 Free teams.  Maddi Moran and Kiara Borchardt were the middle breaststroke and butterfly legs on the 400 Medley Relay squad.
 
However, the Mavs will have to replace some of the greatest swimmers in program history, who won titles last year.  Lauren White anchored the 200 and 400 Free Relay teams and ended her 5-year CMU career with 30 all-America honors.
 
The Mavs also graduated 200 and 400 IM champion Benedict Nagy, who is now a volunteer assistant coach for the Mavs after using her fifth year of eligibility with the Mavs.  On the men's side, the Mavs will have to replace Ben Sampson, who completed his bachelor's degree and his 4-year Maverick career with six national titles amongst a multitude of honors.  Sampson is now using his COVID waiver and fifth season of eligibility at Division I Power Texas, under the direction of Coach Bob Bowman.
 
National Championship Run
 
Excluding, 2020 when the national championship meet was canceled 1 ½ days in due to the initial stages of the COVID pandemic, the Mavericks have won at least one national championship event every year since 2018, a streak they will hope to continue into 2025.
 
All-American List
 
The Mavericks roster or returning all-Americans is quite lengthy and impressive.
 
The Mavericks had 21 different individuals combine for 77 CSCAA All-America honors at last year's championships.  The Mavericks return 15 of those people to this year's roster and have 19 total returning all-Americans on this year's roster, including four who earned honors in 2023.
 
The returning group from 2024 earned a combined total of 55 all-America honors last year, which go to the top 16 finishers in each event at the national championships, last season.  The top eight finishers earn first team honors while the ninth through 16^th place finishers are Second Team/Honorable Mention selections.
 
Here's a list of CMU's returning all-Americans along with the number of honors each received in 2024 and the total number in their career.
 
Women
Sophia Bains (2/3)
Kiara Borchardt (3/6)
Olivia Hansson (2/5)
Katerina Matoskova (8/14)
Maddi Moran (4/5)
Agata Naskret (7/7)
Ada Qunell (5/9)
Elli Williams (4/4)
 
Men
Max Ayres (2/2)
Wyatt Hermanson (0/2)
Kuba Kiszczak (5/12)
Matheus Laperriere (0/7)
Jameson McEnaney (4/4)
Jackson Moe (0/1)
Marcos Otero (1/1)
Austin Patterson (1/1)
Andrew Scoggin (4/5)
Dejan Urbanek (3/11)
Dawson Wilson (0/2)
 
RMAC Dual Streak
 
The Maverick women extended their RMAC dual meet winning streak to 36 with the convincing 174-27 and 174-26 wins over CSU Pueblo on both dates of the Intermountain Shootout weekend.
 
CMU's dual meet winning streak dates back nearly nine years to Jan. 22, 2016.
 
Those two decisions over CSU Pueblo are the only RMAC duals on the Mavs' 2024-25 schedule, which will be almost entirely against NCAA Division I competition in the leadup to the RMAC and NCAA Division II Championships.
 
The Maverick men are not slated to have any duals against RMAC foes this season.  They have won 13 straight RMAC duals since the 2016-17 season.
 
Division I Schedule
 
As in recent years, Maverick Head Coach Mickey Wender has built a schedule that will pit the Mavericks against many of the top programs in the Mountain Time Zone and the Western United States as a whole.  The Mavericks are slated to compete against NCAA Division I foes in each of their eight regular season meets leading into the RMAC and NCAA Division II Championships.
 
After this weekend's duals against Wyoming, the Mavericks will split their squad for meets next Saturday (Nov. 2) with the Maverick women heading to Fort Collins to face Colorado State while men will be at Denver on that same day.
 
Utah, Wyoming and Northern Arizona are amongst the teams that will compete in CMU's TYR Invitational from Nov. 20-23.
 
The Mavs will then head to the UNLV Invitational before the holiday break from Dec. 16-18 before coming back from the break to face Utah on Jan. 10.  The Mavs will then wrap up the pre-championship season at the Air Force Dual Meet Invitational on Jan. 17-18.
 
The Maverick divers have also recently added Northern Arizona's Lumberjack Diving Invitational (Nov. 21-23) to their schedule.
 
The Friendly Confines
 
The Mavericks will once again host the RMAC Championships, doing so for the sixth straight year in February (Feb. 11-15).
 
The Mavs also hosted the championship meet for five straight years from 2013-17 after first hosting in 2011.
 
Including the RMAC Championships and this week's two meets, the Mavericks are slated to take full advantage of the top-level El Pomar Natatorium, as they will home for six different meets this year.